Australia's Former PM Says Australia Should Be A Republic After Oprah's Interview

Malcolm Turnbull: Australia's Former PM Malcolm Turnbull stated that the allegations made by Duke and Duchess of Sussex Prince Harry and Meghan Markle prove that Australia should become a republic. Turnbull met the couple when he was in office in 2018.

He stated that he opposed the current system in which Britain’s monarch automatically becomes Australia’s head of state.

Turnbull told the Australian Broadcasting Corp that “After the end of the Queen’s reign, that is the time for us to say, ‘Ok, we’ve passed that watershed. Do we really want to have whoever happens to be the king or queen of the UK automatically our head of state?’” He described the family as “clearly unhappy”. Turnbull added that “It all seems very sad,” when he spoke about Oprah’s interview with Markle and Prince Harry.

From 1993 to 2000, Malcolm Turnbull used to be the chairman of the Australian Republic Movement which fought for the country’s right to select an Australian citizen as head of state. The referendum on Australian becoming a republic was defeated. Even though opinion polls from that time showed that most Australians also believed that the head of state should someone who was born in Australia.

The now retired politician Turnbull was the 29th Prime Minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He is succeeded by the current prime minister Scott Morrison. Morrison made no comment regarding the interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry yet.